IUCN, European Regional Office

The aim of this study is to provide an overview of national legal instruments in all European Union Member States related to protection of the marine environment from plastic pollution, and to support upcoming European policy efforts such as the EU Strategy on Plastics, but also other future efforts to tackle this global environmental challenge.

In recent years, awareness has risen surrounding the crucial role of plants in providing ecosystem services and on their decline – they are one of the essential foundations of healthy ecosystems that we depend on. However, significant gaps in knowledge still remain. In this context, the European Red List of lycopods and ferns provides the first ever comprehensive assessment of the extinction risk of all native lycopod and fern species to Europe.

In recent years, awareness has risen surrounding the crucial role of insects in providing ecosystem services and on the acute decline of many of them. However, significant gaps in knowledge still remain. In this context, the European Commission has undertaken to fund the European Red List of Grasshoppers, Crickets and Bush- Crickets, which provides the first ever comprehensive assessment of the extinction risk of all Orthoptera species native to Europe.